The Preliminary Round and the Chopin’s Method

'Chopin speaks little and seldom about his art; but when he does speak of it, he does so with remarkable clarity and confidence in his judgments, which could dispel any heresy, if only he chose to speak plainly. Yet he prefers the private realm, expressing himself truly only through his piano. Still, he promises to write a method that would reveal not only his craft, but also his artistic doctrine. Will he keep his word.'

The composer partially kept his word to Sand – his ‘Method of piano playing’ has survived only in an unfinished draft. Yet despite the fact that he himself was to some extent an autodidact, Chopin was able to translate his musical intuition into instructions addressed to his pupils. Kamila Stępień-Kutera writes about what has survived from his didactics to this day, and what the participants of the Chopin Competition can take from it, in the text ‘The Preliminary Round and the Chopin’s Method’.

 

We invite you to read the article on the Chopin Institute blog.